Documents / Case file
This U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book file compiles 1952 and 1953 messages, memos and reports on the movie film Navy Chief Photographer Delbert C. Newhouse shot on 2 July 1952 near Tremonton, Utah. It records interviews with Newhouse's family, requests about the film, and Navy and General Mills balloon experts judging that the objects closely resembled pillow balloons. It also covers internal debate about releasing the film to the press. Unrelated reports from Phoenix, Lexington and Highland Park sightings are included too.
From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 7/2/52, Tremonton, Utah. This document records the Project Blue Book investigation and subsequent assessments of an incident near Tremonton, Utah, on July 2, 1952. Project Blue Book was a 1952-1969 U.S. Air Force program to investigate the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The file describes the Air Force’s assessment of the principal witness, Delbert C. Newhouse, a U.S. Navy Warrant Officer specializing in photography, as honest and reliable, and as an expert with more than 1,000 hours of aerial-photography experience. Newhouse reported observing 12 to 14 reflective objects and recorded the event on color motion-picture film using a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera. The file reflects an evolving Air Force assessment of the imagery over several years. Early documentation considered several possible explanations, including sunlight reflecting from birds or balloons, and a mirage effect, and did not identify the objects conclusively. Later assessments became more confident that the objects were seabirds reflecting sunlight, citing identifiable seabirds and similar films showing seabirds as bright points of light under comparable conditions. However, the film’s limited detail and lack of fixed reference points prevented reliable determination of the objects’ distance, size, altitude, or linear speed from the film alone. AARO Comment: The file contains conflicting references to the film format. Several documents describe a 35mm film, while contemporaneous submission documentation identifies the original as a 50-foot roll of processed 16mm Kodachrome color motion-picture film recorded with a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera. Newhouse reported exposing approximately 30 feet of the roll during the incident and using the remaining film later that day to record unrelated mountain scenery in Idaho. Other records show that 35mm positive and negative duplicate blowups were produced from the original 16mm material. The file also indicates that the original film was duplicated for preservation, citing its deteriorating condition. The footage retained by the National Archives and Records Administration and presented in this collection as DOW-UAP-PR159 is a digitization of a 16mm print.
“The Pentagon”2 pages
Mr: M. A. Monts Air Force Press Room Room ZE761, Pentagon 1 Jun 19 6 ME ORANDU l"O DIRECTOR OF INTELLIOENCg b.O Attu: Lt Colonel T. . John•on, AFOIN-X n1 ~Q.) SUB CT (Uncl ) UFO Movie ~ l. Th f 11 wing •tatem ta conceming two of the UFO aightl ga d •crib din the rec ntly relea ■ ed vie, ar aub- s mitted in re•pon•e to r. onta' r que ■ t of 29 May 956. 0 0 ~ a. Th aria.nna Ca1e - ontana - 1950. The ol'lginal Air Force concluaion. ■ ed on the interrogation of witn •• •s0 and th evaluation of the ata, aa that the UFO, e, i all ~ 0 probability, two Air F rce F-94 fighter aircraft own to Ill in th vicinity at the time.fll Q.) J.-1 ~ Shnulat d otogr b ■ of aircraft at v riou1 dl1 c • • u Q.) made by an &il'craft manufacturing firm in a recent independent 0 J.-1 and un ■ olicited analyst• of the Marl a film, •how atrl ing ~ ■ imilarity to the two white blopa in thi ■ film. 1,-1 < u d on th d gre of credibility accorded tbla early A IC evaluation aiMl the tron corroborative vidence aupplte y the recent independent analyaia. the Air Fore ha1 o com llin r aaon to alter tta original concluaion. b. Th New ouae Ca ■ e - Ut - 1952. The ori inal film w s a lYJSe by Air ore Photo Recormaiaaance Laboratory ■hortly after the •iahttn1. Th concluaion reac ed waa that a •trong poa ■ ibiUty exlated that th ri1ht apot• of light appearing on the film were cauaed by • agull11 ■ oaring in thermal air cur rent ■. Th credibility 0£ the concl ion waa undoubtedly ■ up ported by th pr ■ ence of identifiable ea3ulla in •ome f the frame ■. Thia concluaio wa• further strengthened by movie• of seagull ■• ta.ken at varioua diatancea, which ■howed them aa bright apota of light aimllar to thoae th New ouae film.
Case file, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 156 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.